Something’s Buzzing at the Dusseldorf International Airport with Great Air Quality!
If you said something was “buzzing” at the Dusseldorf International Airport in Germany…you’d certainly be right. They are monitoring their air quality with bees. Bees? You heard correctly.
According to PhysOrg.com, the airport is using bees for environmental health, just as other airports have done recently. Apparently, the bees have been successful at monitoring the quality of water – so it seems that scientists thought they would be good at monitoring the air quality also.
So how can we tell if the bees are doing a good job? It’s the honey they produce! The bees honey is then tested in the labs two times a year for heavy metals and specific hydrocarbons. To date the honey has been similar to that produced in non-industrial areas. The scientists believe the early data looks “promising” but they would like to look at additional data over a longer period of time.
The first batch of honey from the Dusseldorf International Airport was produced from 200,000 bees living at the airport. The honey tested appears similar to that of what would be produced in a rural area. Using bees originally began in 2006. The air quality at the airport is also monitored in other traditional ways – not simply from the bees’ findings.
The bees and their honey seem a very practical and natural way to demonstrate how good the air quality is at the Dusseldorf International Airport. The bees are actually being kept by local beekeepers in the area and the honey is then bottled as “Dusseldorf Natural” and is given away. How interesting to be a part of their air quality findings, and to spread some of their delicious honey on a piece of bread or your morning muffin, knowing that these bees have been hard at work checking if the airport has good air quality.
photo credit: GilmourCreative
It will be interesting to see if other airports across the world follow suit and use bees at their locations to confirm air quality. To know that bees have done so well with water pollution sounds quite promising. This is a very “green” solution to air quality and air pollution, using bees to maintain good air quality – in addition to traditional methods.
Best of all, it is something fun for the community to enjoy and actually experience the “fruit” of good air quality efforts. To see and taste the results of good air quality is so wonderful. That they can enjoy this natural honey, and know that their airport is clean is a great benefit. A very unique experience that not everyone has. But it is also a great way to get people excited about clean air and staying active in monitoring air quality. Hopefully other airports will follow in their footsteps and bring bees on board to help!
Source: http://www.physorg.com/news197178466.html
